


I'll be your galaxy

by auroraoraora



Category: Free!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Convenience Store, Artist Nanase Haruka, M/M, Nanase Haruka and Tachibana Makoto Don't Grow Up Together, makoto and sousuke work at the store, only rin is a swimmer, rin and haru are roommates too, set during covid 19 pandemic, they are roommates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-15
Updated: 2020-10-15
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:27:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,528
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27032680
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/auroraoraora/pseuds/auroraoraora
Summary: Haru and Rin meet Makoto and Sousuke. During the pandemic.(Set in 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic, everyone is 24)
Relationships: Matsuoka Rin/Yamazaki Sousuke, Nanase Haruka/Tachibana Makoto
Kudos: 39





	I'll be your galaxy

**Author's Note:**

> Song title from "Rain on Me" by Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande, because I've done Gaga songs for every Free fic I've done, so why stop now?  
> Speaking of, this is completely unrelated to those. I'm not saying I'll never do another story in that universe, but it wouldn't be until after the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo.  
> I've seen so many good Free AUs over the years, I thought I would try writing one of my own. And I had a COVID scare not too long ago (I was in contact with someone who had been tested, but her test came back negative) so why not write a whole story about it?

5:45 am.

Makoto Tachibana has just started his shift at the Lawson store he worked at, but he already wanted it to be over. He’d already finished his cleaning tasks, and there were never many customers at this time of morning.

The pandemic had shut down the daycare he had been working at, forcing him to find another job. Luckily, his roommate had been able to get him a job here, having already worked at the store for a year. It paid well enough, but he missed spending time with the kids! It was bad enough that he couldn’t volunteer at the senior center anymore, but they had to take the kids from him, too?

Suddenly, he heard the dinging sound of the door opening. “Hello, welcome to Lawson!” he greeted brightly, as he’d been instructed to do with every customer, whether they bought anything or not. The young man who walked in just kind of stared at him before making his way over to the drink coolers. Makoto watched as the boy perused the bottled water, grabbed a couple bottles, and made his way over to the sports drinks. Before he knew it, the customer had brought his bottles, along with some food, and brought it all over to the counter.

“Were you able to find everything you were looking for today?”

“Yes.” _You mean you were looking for water, Pocari Sweat, and 6 cans of mackerel?_

“Glad to hear it! Are you part of our rewards program?”

“No.” And as Makoto went into his spiel about the rewards program and how great it was, he couldn’t help but notice…

_His eyes are so blue. The blue of his face mask brings out the blue of his eyes._

Eventually, the items were bagged up and paid for, and the customer was on his way out the door. Embarrassing observation aside, things had gone well. That is, until the automatic doors slid open and he heard himself say to the departing customer:

“Have a date gray!”

Luckily for him, the customer didn’t react, and he left along with the last semblance of sanity Makoto had left.

* * *

As Haruka Nanase walked back into his apartment, he had his bag snatched from him before he could even close the door.

“What the fuck is this, Haru? I asked you to get groceries, and you get this crap? I don’t know why I expected any different from you. If I wasn’t stuck in Zoom meetings all day, I would’ve just gone myself.” He and his roommate had known each other since middle school- their personalities clashed like no other, but they managed to get along regardless.

“This is groceries.”

“I specifically asked for bread and sausages. And would it have killed you to get some soap?”

“They didn’t have any.”

“Did you even look?”

“I glanced.”

“Did you ask the cashier if they had any?”

“He was… big.”

“In what sense?” His annoyance was mostly gone. Instead, there was something… different there. Rin sometimes wanted to know about people Haru talked to. He claimed he was trying to get Haru a date, but Haru personally thought Rin was just interested in ogling men. He probably was in withdrawals after having to stop going to the gym. Sure, he would jog, but he’d complain, saying it just wasn’t the same.

“Tall. It’s pretty obvious he works… worked out. Brown hair, green eyes. He told me to have a date gray.”

“See, he obviously likes you. He saw your far too blue eyes and mixed up his words. Go back to the store and give him your number. While getting my bread and sausages, of course.”

“But I don’t even eat sausages. Why should I get them?”

“Oh right, you’re vegetarian or whatever.”

“The term is pescatarian. I eat fish. But more importantly, I’m not going to be able to leave the building, remember? The staff is making sure we only leave once every two days. I won’t be able to leave until Friday.”

“Fine. My last Zoom meeting ends at 6. I can go after that. The same cashier probably won’t still be there, but whatever.”

* * *

7:30 pm.

Sousuke Yamazaki was normally able to eat something between customers on the night shift, especially now that nobody was really allowed to go out anymore.

However, tonight was a different story. There’s been a line just to get into the store for a straight hour. As soon as one person leaves the store, another will come in, and it goes on that way until there’s only one customer left.

Sometimes when there’s just one customer, Sousuke will eat in the manager’s office, watching the camera until they get to the counter. He’s gotten in trouble for it before, but not enough to actually make him stop.

But for some reason, he doesn’t want to tonight. He finds himself inexplicably drawn to watching the customer in question.

It’s a man around his age, with red hair. He’s wearing sweatpants, like every other customer, but he’s so confident in them somehow. He’s even managed to match his mandatory face mask to his outfit, and he can tell that this guy has great style. Sousuke himself never cared about clothes, even in the before times. But if this guy can look good during a pandemic, he must be truly breathtaking when things aren’t complete shit.

He’s been at this job for about a year, because his family doesn’t pay him for helping out at their restaurant, and experience doesn’t pay his rent. His roommate, who he’d met at school, had lost his job because of the pandemic, so he’d hooked him up with a job here. Not that they really saw much of each other. Makoto ended up getting put on the morning shift, so he took his online classes while Sousuke worked at night.

Finally, the guy came up to the counter.

“Green smoothies and meat. A man after my own heart.”

“Are you making fun of me?”

“Of course not. It’s just that this usually ends up being what I bring home from here.”

“The chicken looks good, too, but my coach would actually kill me if I ate any. Like, he legit would come down here and stab me if he sensed me eating even one piece.”

“I’d protect you.” _Why did I say that, now he’s going to think I’m a psycho or something!_

“Oh?”

“Yeah, can you imagine the amount of paperwork I’d have to fill out? And the blood would stain, it wouldn’t look good at all. It’d scare all the customers away, and then we’ll close, and I’ll be out of a job. What sport do you do?”

“Huh?”

“You said your coach would kill you, which means you do a sport.”

“Oh, yeah. I’m a swimmer. I was actually supposed to go to the Olympics this year.”

“For real?”

“Yeah. I do butterfly and freestyle.”

“Holy shit there is an Olympic athlete in this store.” As soon as he realized what he said, Sousuke knew he had to go into damage control mode. “I’m so sorry, please excuse my language.” But the other guy was laughing, and why was this suddenly the best thing Sousuke had ever seen?

“Don’t worry about it. That’s about the typical reaction I get when people find out. And I’m not actually an Olympic athlete yet. It’s still not completely official. If I slack off too much during quarantine, I could get dropped from the team and replaced with a backup. And my gym is closed, so I have to run on the treadmill and do pushups and shit in my living room. I know my roommate is annoyed about it, but it’s not like I have a choice.”

“So, Mr. Future Olympic Athlete, you got any social media? Twitter? Instagram?” _OnlyFans?_ Sousuke thought to himself. And since the stranger hadn’t started puking in his mask, he (thankfully) hadn’t said that last one out loud.

“You’re pretty forward, aren’t you? You don’t even know my name.”

“I’ll know it next year after you win gold at the Olympics.”

“Very funny.” He pulled out his phone and began swiping through it. “My Instagram, for your viewing pleasure.”

“thematsurin? You named yourself after a festival?”

“Not quite. My name is Matsuoka Rin. I know it’s girly, but whatever.” He paused for a moment. “zakiyama is now following you. I’m guessing that’s you?”

“Yeah. Yamazaki Sousuke.”

 _Ugh. Really?_ Sousuke couldn’t help but be annoyed at the sound of the sliding door opening, and the chime indicating that a customer was coming in. This had been the best… twenty minutes (holy shit, really?) of work he’d had in a long time, and now the spell was broken, and this hot guy, Rin, would leave and probably not come back. _At least I’ll have some nice pictures to look at._

Later, as Sousuke was going home on the train, he pulled out his phone to see his home screen covered in notifications from Instagram.

**thematsurin is now following you.**

Likes on a few pictures.

He even commented on one.

**You have a nice face.**

Naturally, he had to look at Rin’s profile and see if he really did look as good as Sousuke thought he would, and _holy mother of fuck, that is Rin coming out of a pool, looking like a million dreams rolled into one tight body._

 **thematsurin** One of my last photoshoots before everything shut down. I miss this so much! Can’t wait to kick ass at the Olympics! #throwback #Tokyo2021

Naturally, the comments were full of people (male and female) expressing their… desires for the swimmer. One comment he saw had the person saying they would walk a mile through broken glass for a chance to kiss Rin’s feet, and while he could relate to the simping, Rin can’t have enjoyed getting a comment like that. He couldn’t think of anything to say about it without coming off as a creepy, disgusting pervert, so he just liked the picture, almost forgetting to bookmark it for later.

* * *

“Hey, Haru, is this the gu- what is that smell?”

“You were taking forever at the store, so I ate without you.” Rin pulled his phone out and checked the time. _Was I really gone for over an hour?_ But more importantly…

“Is this the guy you saw this morning?” He waved his phone screen, with Sousuke’s latest Instagram picture, in front of Haru’s face.

“Stop moving it so I can see.” Rin handed Haru the phone. “No, it’s not him. The hair and eyes are the wrong color.” Haru closed his right eye and held his hand in front of the bottom half of the screen. “No, it’s not him. Did you meet this guy? He looks like an asshole. How did you meet him?”

“He was the cashier at Lawson. He was high key flirting with me, and he asked me for my Insta. I figured I could just block him if he was a creep, but god damn he is fine. I had to make sure it wasn’t your guy, because I don’t know how I was going to keep my hands off him otherwise.”

“My guy? I don’t have a guy.”

“Yes, you do. You were going to hook up with the morning cashier, and I guess now I’m going to hook up with the night cashier.”

“I don’t remember agreeing to that.”

“You need to get laid. All you do is cook mackerel and paint.”

“All you do is train and think about dicks.” Haru paused his scrolling through Sousuke’s Instagram feed to point out a picture to Rin. “It’s this one. He wasn’t wearing the glasses, but it’s the same guy.”

Sousuke was posing with another guy. They were about the same size, but this one had light brown hair, bright green eyes, and black rimmed glasses.

 **zakiyama** barbecue with the roomie @tachibana.makoto

“Hmm, not bad. Seems like a nice enough guy. Lots of cats, some kids- hmmm, looks like he worked at a daycare. He’s posing with some old lady in this one- maybe it’s his grandmother.”

 **tachibana.makoto** Helped organize a dance for the seniors! I had fun dressing up too! Mrs. Tamura says I remind her of her grandson.

“He seems sweet, but the way he looks in that suit gives me major ‘your daughter calls me daddy too’ vibes. You sure you don’t want him?”

Haru huffed, handing the phone back to Rin. “Not everyone thinks about hooking up all the time.”

* * *

Makoto came back from his next shift to find Sousuke cooking. “That smells good. You don’t usually cook.”

“I guess I just felt like it today.”

“Did something happen?”

“I flirted with a customer last night.”

“You know we’re not supposed to do that.”

“He was really attractive. And I would’ve stopped if he wasn’t into it, but he flirted back. He even gave me his Insta.”

“So, it’s a guy this time?”

“Yeah. Hopefully, it doesn’t go down in flames like it did last time.”

“I don’t think it could get worse than what happened with Chiaki.”

“I can’t believe I actually thought I might marry her. I’m just glad I found out before it was too late.” He turned off the burner. “Anything new going on with you?”

“Nothing like that. Just missing the kids and the seniors.”

“I’m sure they’ll rehire you when they open up again. And if not, there are other places out there.”

Suddenly, Makoto’s phone dinged with a notification. “7seharu is now following you. Wonder who that is.”

* * *

Haru wasn’t sure how to feel about his roommate’s new infatuation.

On one hand, it was strange to see the same person around for more than a week or two. Well, not really seeing- they were constantly texting, and he knows they’ve been talking over Zoom- Sousuke probably would come over if it was allowed. He truly does hope that Rin has found something more stable than his usual short-lived flings.

But on the other hand… he doesn’t trust Sousuke just yet. He knows how ridiculous it sounds, but something about Sousuke’s face just rubs him the wrong way. Rin’s had his heart broken before, and Haru’s been there to console him every time. (He claims that he doesn’t like this part of best friend duty, and he wishes he never had to do it, but it’s not as bothersome as he tells Rin it is.)

_Come to think of it, that may be a big part of the reason why I’ve sworn off dating._

This Tachibana person seems different, though. He worked with kids, volunteered with seniors, posted pictures of kittens… he appeared to have two younger siblings too, and he frequently posted pictures of them, talking about how much he missed them. They’d comment about how they missed him, too, and he was kind of jealous.

His own family didn’t really seem to care about him that much. They didn’t care when he’d gotten into culinary school, and they didn’t care about his art, either. He’d dreamed of opening a restaurant someday, but he’d never told them, knowing he’d just hear, “That’s great, honey,” and then they’d leave again for some far-flung locale.

He doesn’t know how, but he’s able to forget about it when he’s with Makoto. They’ve ran into each other a few times, both at his workplace and at the drugstore, the only other business open. They talked for so long at the drugstore that the manager there had to kick them out for not obeying the social distancing guidelines that had been put in place. It was kind of scary- they’d been so focused on each other that they’d forgotten the rules. They’d given each other their phone numbers after that, and they talked most days.

Haru mostly used his Instagram to post pictures of his paintings and the dishes he’d made. Makoto had liked almost every picture he posted. He’d been interested in a way nobody before him had been. He’d even told Makoto about his dream, the one he’d never even told his parents about.

“A lot of restaurants in the city actually started as food trucks. I’ll probably do that, too. I’ll have to save up a lot of money- maybe after this is over, I’ll finish up my culinary degree and get a job at a restaurant somewhere.”

“I’ll be your first customer, Haru-chan,” he’d said. And they haven’t even known each other that long- it’s probably too soon to be so casual with each other. But somehow, he didn’t mind the nickname.

“What’s with the nickname?”

“Sorry if you don’t like it. I just feel really close to you for some reason.”

“Can I call you Makoto, then?”

“Of course!”

* * *

Rin misunderstands, as Haru had expected would happen.

“Ooh, you’re talking to your man again. So, when’s the wedding?”

“He’s not my man.” Haru sounded disgusted with himself for even using those words. “He’s a friend. We are friends.”

There were days that even he didn’t believe what he was saying, though.

Makoto had hugged him once. They’d ended up talking about some pretty heavy topics. Haru knew that he had to share this story, one he hadn’t even really told Rin.

“At the end of my first year of culinary school, the weekend before finals, my parents called me and told me my grandmother had died. I had to miss finals to go to her funeral. Most of my professors let me take them afterwards, but I was still so devastated, I ended up bombing them. I ended up getting suspended for a semester- I probably could’ve appealed it, but I didn’t care enough at that point to do anything. I was closer to her than I was to my parents. Honestly, I don’t know if I would react that strongly if one of them died.

“She left me some money- she knew about my dream, and I know she wanted it to come true. I put half of it in the bank, and I took the other half and went around the country. I knew I wouldn’t make any progress at school; I knew I had to get away for a while. And I don’t regret it at all. I finally went back to Rin’s a few months later, and I remember he cried for about an hour, thinking I had died or something.

“I guess I don’t really know the point of what I’m trying to say. I don’t think there’s really a moral or anything, but-” he was interrupted by the feeling of Makoto’s arms around him and the feeling of wetness on his shoulder.

“I don’t know, but I think I understood what you meant. Life is precious, right? Even if we take a detour, sometimes that’s the right way. Thanks, Haru.”

_I’m not going to be able to get him off me, so I might as well let him stay. Something about this feels right, though. Like this was inevitable somehow._

_Is this what having feelings for someone is like?_

* * *

“You know, in a sense, I was like you once.” Sousuke had the night off work, so he and Rin were meeting up for a walk around the city.

“What do you mean?”

“I told you about how I used to play soccer, right?”

“Yeah, you did.”

“I was trying out for the national team. They had us playing against each other, so they could see what we were like in games. I was about to stop the other team from scoring a goal, and I had jumped up to catch the ball, but one of the guys slammed into me, and I ended up breaking my collarbone.”

“I thought you weren’t allowed to use your hands in soccer.”

“Oh, right. I played goalie. Sorry, I probably should’ve mentioned that.”

“What happened after that?”

“The guy rammed into me at full force pretty much, so it was broken pretty badly. I had to have surgery on it, and I had to wear a sling for a couple months. But the worst part was that I didn’t end up making the team. I could’ve gone to the World Cup. Some of the other guys there ended up going. At least, I thought that was going to be the worst part.”

“You mean it got worse?”

“Oh yeah. I was dating this girl at the time. We’d been together for a few years at that point. I really thought she might be the one.” _I remember seeing a girl on his Instagram feed, and then she just stopped showing up. That must be her._ “During the tryouts, I remember hearing there was this girl who was dating one of the players, but she kept trying to hit on the other guys. I remember thinking it couldn’t be her, it had to be someone else.

“But when I was in the hospital, some of the guys came by and said that Chiaki was hitting on them. I didn’t want to believe it at first, but when my cousin came by and told me she’d tried to hit on him, too, I had no choice but to believe it. I broke up with her, moved my things out of our apartment, and I ended up going to my parent’s house for a while. Eventually I met Makoto and moved in with him, but for a while there, I thought that might be it for me.”

“You don’t mean…” Rin asked, tears in his eyes.

“I do. But after my physical therapy, I went to mental therapy. I needed someone to talk to. And they were at the same hospital, so why not, right? I’ve been doing a lot better lately. I met someone else recently, and I think I could be incredibly happy with him.”

“Oh? Anyone I know?”

“I think you know him, yeah.”

“If it weren’t for the mask, I’d kiss you right now.”

“Glad to know we’re on the same page.”

* * *

“I heard they’re allowing two household gatherings soon.”

“Okay.”

“So what do you think?”

“About what?”

Rin rolled his eyes. “About you and I going to Makoto and Sousuke’s place- or they could come over here. I guess it doesn’t really matter which.”

“You just want to hook up.”

“I wouldn’t invite you along if I just wanted to hook up.”

“You want me to hook up with Makoto.”

“Uh, yeah. You two are adorable. You’re different, but you mesh well together.”

“I guess it wouldn’t hurt anything.”

* * *

So here they were, first Saturday of October, getting ready for their first social gathering in eight months.

“Haru, I swear to God, if you don’t drop that mackerel, I will-”

“You and Sousuke are both meat lovers. I need to make sure there’s food I can eat.”

“Did you really think I wouldn’t tell them about your diet? Sousuke said that he’d be grilling salmon, too, not just steak. And they’ll have potatoes and salads and all that. Even if Sousuke wasn’t on it, Makoto definitely would be. So, stop worrying, and put the mackerel back in the freezer. Or the trash, where it belongs.”

“I don’t tell you your stuff belongs in the trash.”

“Yeah, because you know it doesn’t. I just really hate the smell of mackerel.”

“…I think I like Makoto.”

Rin feigned a gasp. “Really? I had no idea.”

“Shut up. Tell me what to do.”

“You realize I can’t do both of those things at the same time, right?”

Haru stared, clearly unamused. “Please tell me what to do.”

“When did the feelings start?”

“Probably when he hugged me. Since then, my chest feels weird when he’s around. I don’t get it- it kind of hurts, but I like it. Is that normal?”

“Yeah, it is. Do you ever find yourself wanting to kiss him or anything like that?”

“You mean like those messages you send Sousuke?” Haru had once made the mistake of looking at Rin’s lock screen- it had vibrated while Rin was in the other room, and he found himself reading a very… detailed message from Sousuke, detailing all the things they’d do together when they could be alone together. “No, I don’t find myself wanting to lick Makoto from head to toe, or anything like that. I don’t think I’m ready.”

“You don’t have to go at the same pace as us. You guys should do things your own way. Don’t let him do anything you’re not 100% comfortable with. Kick his ass if he tries to force you, and let me know afterward, so I can kick his ass, too.”

“Let me know if Sousuke does that, too. I know I probably won’t be able to take him, but I don’t want to see you hurt again.” Haru heard a sniffle. “Are you seriously crying right now?”

“No.”

* * *

Now they were standing outside Makoto and Sousuke’s building, waiting to be buzzed in. Finally, Makoto got the door, Sousuke being too busy with the food.

“Hi, Haru! And- Rin, right? I believe we’ve talked briefly.”

“Yeah! Sousuke and I were video chatting and he had to go to the bathroom, but Makoto just happened to be walking by and we talked for a bit.”

“I remember that! And then Sousuke came back and chased me away.”

“Where was I during all of this?”

“I’m sure you were painting or something. Now are you guys gonna give us a tour?”

“Maybe after we eat.”

* * *

It was a very short tour, with only five rooms, but they still managed to lose half the party. Rin and Sousuke had vanished somewhere along the way, presumably to relieve some of the tension that Makoto could feel between them as soon as Rin and Haru had entered the apartment.

Makoto had elected to turn on the TV and log into Netflix, so they’d have something to drown out the noise with if the two ended up actually having sex. He had no idea what kind of movies or shows Haru liked (he knows he’s mentioned a few things he liked, but Haru never offered any suggestions in return) so he offered to let Haru choose something to watch.

“Whatever you want to watch is fine. Really.”

“Well, you are the guest, and it would be rude to just impose my will on you like that.”

“I don’t really watch TV or anything. I don’t think I’ve ever watched a show all the way through. I sometimes watch cooking or nature shows, but that’s really it.”

“We can watch one of those, then! I just don’t want…” he trailed off without finishing his thought.

“Don’t want what?”

“I just want something to drown out the noise in case our respective roommates end up having sex while we’re still here.”

Haru looked like he’d just recalled an unpleasant memory. “If you want, we can go to my place instead.”

“Are you sure? Your place is in Rin’s name, right? I don’t want him to be mad.”

“Well, isn’t this place in your name? You could say the same thing.”

“You know what? Maybe we should go over to your place. I want to see some of those paintings.”

* * *

“How is it that you live closer to my work than I do?”

“I swear we passed by at least two other Lawsons on our way over here.”

“Well, Sousuke got me a job at that one because he works there. I’m not sure why he chose that one, but I guess it doesn’t really matter. It’s good that it’s close by, though, because I… I got to meet you. I’d feel bad if you were coming from far away just to see me.”

_Makoto is glad that he met me? He made it sound like he might like me back… should I go for it? Wait, how do you go for it? Should I try to kiss him? How do you do that? Wait, he started talking again… I should really listen._

“Are you feeling alright, Haru? I understand if you want to go back.”

“I have some paintings I haven’t posted online yet.”

The apartment was small, but it looked cozy. He and Sousuke had both been working, but he could tell that this apartment had seen a lot of life over the past seven months. The living room had been turned into a makeshift gym, and it was clear that this was Rin’s territory.

“Rin’s going to the Olympics, right?”

“Yeah. He says he could still be swapped out at the last minute, but there’s no way that will happen. He works way too hard for that.”

“The two of you don’t seem like you would be friends at first, but you actually get along, don’t you?”

“I guess. We’ve known each other since sixth grade. If we were going to get sick of each other, it would’ve happened already.”

“I suppose so, yeah. It’s odd- I’ve only known Sousuke for two years. We met in class, and when I heard he needed a place to stay, I offered to let him stay with me. And then when the pandemic happened and I lost my job, he got me a new one. And that’s how I met you. He says he needs to do more to repay me, but I think he’s done it already.”

As they walked into Haru’s bedroom/studio, Makoto was struck by how few paintings were in it.

“Where are all the paintings?”

“I sold most of them. I post pictures of them online, and people buy them. I wasn’t going to sell them at first, but someone offered me enough to cover three month’s rent, and now I sell about 85% of them.”

“It sounds like you’re doing well enough financially.”

“I actually… made you a painting. You can keep it if you want.”

“A Haruka Nanase original? As a gift from the artist himself? I don’t know if I can accept something so valuable.”

“It’s not that big of a deal. I’m not famous or anything.” Haru was trying to play it cool, but Makoto could tell he was flattered by the praise.

“Can I see it?”

“Sure. It’s under the cloth on that easel. You can pull it off if you want.”

Makoto gently lifted the black cloth from the easel and gasped in wonder. “Are you sure I can keep this?”

Makoto himself was the subject of the piece. Painted mostly in shades of green, he saw himself smiling, feeling at ease in a way that he wasn’t sure he ever felt when the artist was around.

“It’s great, Haru! But don’t you think you made me too handsome?”

“Oh, please. As if any artist in the world could accurately portray how good looking you are. I know I didn’t even come close.”

“I guess you’re just going to have to keep painting me, then.” He’d said it jokingly, but Haru looked like he was actually considering it.

“Just let me know when you’re free, and we can make it happen. But until then, could I get some photos? For reference, of course. You can pose how you want to.”

Makoto wasn’t sure how his life had ended up like this- as a muse of sorts to an eccentric (but cute) artist. Their respective roommates were now dating, so they’d probably all end up spending time together. _Maybe someday I’ll get the courage to ask him out._

“This is normally when you get into position. After you kiss me, of course.”

“Wait, what?”

“I wasn’t sure at first, but Rin told me you liked me. And that I liked you. And if I don’t do this now, I’m not sure I ever will.”

Before he had time to doubt himself, he strode over to Haru, tilted his face upward, and kissed him like he’d been dying to since the day he first walked into the Lawson at 6 am, looking like he’d just rolled out of bed and into Makoto’s dreams.

* * *

Around that time, Rin left Sousuke’s room, noticing that it had been quiet outside for a while. Sousuke kissed even better than he’d expected, and as it turned out, his self-confidence had been entirely warranted.

“Haru? You ready to go? I don’t want to be on the train during rush hour. Are you still here?”

“Maybe he texted you.” Sousuke hadn’t expected Rin’s teeth, even though they’d been shown prominently in his pictures. _I guess I should’ve paid more attention to his face. I’m not mad about it, though. Far from it._

**HN: Makoto and I are going over to our place. Don’t let Sousuke go too wild on you.**

**RM: You remember where I keep the condoms, right? In the bathroom, behind the mirror.**

**HN:** **🙄👎 You know I’m not you, right?**

**RM: Obviously. There’s only one person that could be this awesome.**

“Well, I guess you don’t have to worry about Haru anymore. So, what do you say? We can go back to bed, and I can show you something else. Sound good to you?”

“Yeah. Sounds good to me.”

**Author's Note:**

> Some elements of this story are based on official art. Mostly the store being Lawson (they've done promotional campaigns together before) and Sousuke being a soccer player instead of a swimmer (but the shoulder injury still happened.)  
> Sousuke thinks Rin named himself after a festival because "matsuri" is the Japanese word for festival. the **matsuri** n.  
> I honestly feel like Haru would be a full-on vegan if it wasn't for mackerel.  
> I always end up taking like two hours to publish a story, between tagging things, writing the notes, and sometimes coming up with a title.  
> Anyway, thanks for reading, and I hope that everyone has a good day.  
> ~Aurora  
> PS. If you live in the United States and are 18 or older, remember to vote on or before November third! I just sent in my ballot today!


End file.
